/-=MECHS=-\

When I think of a Battlemech, I think of a 20m tall, piloted, bipedal weapons platform. I would really like to see these in Futurecraft (or any mod) and I would also like to have the ability to build them in a manner similar to the ships. I propose knee joints, a mech core, torso pivot, and some weapon systems that would make building a functional mech possible.

Mech Core-Like a ship core, this makes a group inanimate blocks into an entity. It would be placed on the part of the mech that stays parallel to the xz plane (legs and torso are attached to this section)

Torso Pivot-Allows for the rotation of the torso (arms and cockpit are on this section) relative to the core.

Weapon joints-Attaches a weapon to the torso. The weapon follows the player's up/down camera angle. This joint, when combined with the rotation of the torso, gives a pilot the ability to fire in nearly every direction in order to eliminate any threat, air or ground.

Knee and Hip Joints-Purely aesthetic (unless one of your brilliant minds comes up for a functional use for them) joint that causes the legs of a mech to move. Hip joints would attach directly to the core section and cause the entirety of the leg to move. Knee joints would make the next section of the leg bend a set number of degrees relative to the preceding leg section. The order in which knee joints would bend, the direction, speed, and number of degrees would have to be set by the maker of the mech.

Operation-Operation of a mech is pretty simple. You have a throttle (S and W), turning (A and D), torso control (mouse), weapon select (mouse wheel), and weapon fire (click).

This all sounds ridiculously difficult to code, but I really think that it should be one of the main features of Futurecraft.

I like the idea of mechs. We've got space stuff out the wazoo, but not a whole lot to do when you are on the ground.

i like the idea. 1+ support


i see my boarding ships filled up with mechs ready to smash the enemy ships crew....

This idea. I love it.

Mechs could also be used for mining, and for exploring hazardous planets.

I like this ida as well +1

Fine but if we are getting into ground stuff I want a hoverboard(needs to work over water)

I think this is a great idea, give more diversity to the ground wars...

Strategion Daynel wrote:

This idea. I love it.

Mechs could also be used for mining, and for exploring hazardous planets.

Just attach a mining beam thingy and some radiation shielding and blam. Awesome mining/exploration vehicle.

Okay I think there should be two kinds of mechs, a heavy mech like what catsonmeth has for the avatar picture, and what he described, but also a light mech, now how these would be different would be they would have lighter armour, and lighter weapons, but are much more faster,they would be smaller and have arms which could allow them to use melee attacks on other armour units.


there's a picture of the best light mech I could find on Google images, and a picture of a heavy mech to compare.

There's a lot about mechs in the MCF OP.

lukas_schjodt wrote:

i like the idea. 1+ support


i see my boarding ships filled up with mechs ready to smash the enemy ships crew....

...and if my ships only have rooms 3 blocks high?

They sound like a great idea for ground ops,. though.

Fleet Admiral Error wrote:

lukas_schjodt wrote:

i like the idea. 1+ support


i see my boarding ships filled up with mechs ready to smash the enemy ships crew....

...and if my ships only have rooms 3 blocks high?

They sound like a great idea for ground ops,. though.

Then it's your fault for making teeny weeny ships.

Burnttoaster wrote:

Okay I think there should be two kinds of mechs, a heavy mech like what catsonmeth has for the avatar picture, and what he described, but also a light mech, now how these would be different would be they would have lighter armour, and lighter weapons, but are much more faster,they would be smaller and have arms which could allow them to use melee attacks on other armour units.


there's a picture of the best light mech I could find on Google images, and a picture of a heavy mech to compare.

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Category:BattleMechs

Agreed. Mechs could go into 3 categories.
heavy/assault-BIGHUGE mechs, 20-30 m tall, very heavy weaponry and armor
Light-7-20m tall
mini-crafted, small mechs, basically really large powered armor.

Spider Bot. That is all.

Scarab vs AT-AT

Scarab wins.

(RELEVANT)

Anyone ever played Chromehounds? It's an old Xbox 360 game that had an awesome mech customization engine.

In my function as representant of Sonic the Hedgehog-canon as Science Fiction I will use G.U.N.-Mechs on this thread!
(OK, they´re light mechs and actually it´s just two variants of one type, but they are good quality. I also added something for the hovertank-method fans.)

Spoiler:

The Hovertank-thing:

Scarab vs. Atlas. Atlas wins.

Drop in from orbit via Assault Pods, you and your carefully selected lance of three of the best pilots in your faction. Automated cannon fire explodes around you, fragments and plasma glance off your titanium shell as you make your descent. Deceleration rockets fire and you brace against the padded pilot's chair, preparing for surface impact and the heavy opposition you will face as you attempt to capture the fortressworld's command. You switch one of your display screens to a camera positioned on the top of your pod and see brilliant flashes through the thin, dark clouds and puffs of exhaust fumes. Your ship will probably be destroyed in the naval battle, but this is most likely a suicide mission, anyway. You fight the increasing deceleration and harden your mind. This team has made it through worse. Impact. You activate the mission clock and start up your mech's engines. "Five seconds 'till Hell breaks loose." You announce over L-Com. Your communication is answered by the sounds of microreactor cores warming up. The timer reaches 0 and the front of your pod blasts away from you, skidding to a halt a hundred meters away. You throttle up and your battle-scarred Heavy Battlemech takes its first steps onto the burnt glassland. The vehicle straightens to its full height of twenty-two meters. Out of the corner of your eye, you see two other pod doors skitter to the ground. The torso of your war machine rotates in time for you to see the next two mechs step out of their insertion pods. Over the com, you hear the fourth struggling with his controls, then the door explodes and a ferric alloy slug buries itself in the glass. He soon joins the group. A klaxon blares in your headset and you feel a shell slam into the side of your mech. You quickly turn to face your assailant and unleash a barrage of missiles on it. The tank is disintegrated, shattered armor and burning fuel littering the cracked nuclear glass. You know there is much worse to come, that this was just a scout sent to measure the force of the assault. You order the heavy lance forward, to the shielded base in the distance and, very likely, to their deaths.

Now we HAVE to have them.

I was planning mechs would be like this. I mentioned the idea for joints several months ago. However, I think there should only be two types of mechs: those built out of blocks, and those crafted.
The ones built out of blocks would need special joint blocks and some fancy programming to make their walking look realistic (and adapt to the size of the mech). Weapons would be placed fully by choice, meaning you would need to use a computer to control them. Unless we want a mech core block, that allows for one primary, one melee, and one secondary weapon, as well as the controls that Cat mentioned?
Crafted ones would be much simpler.

I would say crafted mechs, except for really massively epic ones. Those would be made out of blocks.

Captain stufuzzycat wrote:

I would say crafted mechs, except for really massively epic ones. Those would be made out of blocks.

It's difficult to build a mech under 6 meters without it looking cute and cuddly or just stupid. Possible, but difficult.